A new review has confirmed that exercise can help improve movement-related symptoms for people who have Parkinson's disease, particularly any type of structured exercise, researchers have said. The findings were published recently in the Cochrane Library 5 January 2023.
Parkinson's Disease
Parkinson's disease is a progressive disorder of the nervous system that mostly affects people over 60. Symptoms can include trembling, stiffness, slowness of movement, balance issues and lack of coordination. Patients may also have emotional and mood problems, fatigue, sleep problems and thinking difficulties.
The Review
The review aimed to find out what exercise worked best to improve movement and quality of life for those with Parkinson's disease. Until now, it has been unclear whether some types of exercise work better than others. In the new review, researchers analysed 156 randomised controlled trials, comparing exercise with no exercise and with different types of exercise.
Parkinson's Trials
The trials included nearly 8,000 people from around the world and is the largest and most comprehensive review on the effects of physical exercise in people with Parkinson's.
The reviewers found that physical exercise such as dance, water exercise, strength and resistance exercise, endurance exercise, tai chi, yoga, and physiotherapy made mild to large improvements to the severity of motor symptoms and quality of life in these patients.
Most of those who took part in the trials had mild to moderate disease, without impairment to their thinking processes. They were an average age range of 60 to 74.
Review Observations
Clinically, meaningful improvements were observed in the severity of motor symptoms for most types of exercise. For quality-of-life improvements, researchers found beneficial effects for water-based training and effects that were probably clinically meaningful for several types of exercise, including endurance training, mind-body training, training to improve gait, balance, movement and multi-exercise training.
Improvements through exercise
The authors say their review highlights the fact that most types of exercise, produced meaningful improvements, indicating that people with Parkinson's disease can benefit from various structured exercise programs to improve the severity of motor symptoms and their quality of life.
The key findings are exercise of any kind, can help Parkinson's patients move and feel better. With meaningful improvements, whether it is dancing, water aerobics, resistance training, tai chi, or yoga. The researchers also noted that certain types of physical therapy designed specifically for Parkinson's patients, may be best for certain symptoms. (Source: https://www.cochranelibrary.com https://consumer.healthday.com)
Conclusion
The importance of exercise has long been documented. It is pleasing to read about exercise in the context of neuro-physical disability, particularly Parkinson's. After Alzheimer's Disease, Parkinson's is the second-most common neurodegenerative disease and more than 10 million people worldwide are living with Parkinson's. (Source: https://www.parkinson.org)
Exercise is important for overall health.
Thanks for making this an interesting and informative blog. I have noticed, Parkinson's seems to be increasingly common unfortunately and anything which can help those with Parkinson's is to be welcomed.
It is encouraging that exercise can benefit the condition.
I had an uncle with the condition. It was all rather sad. I'm glad you liked the blog. I hope it helps bring more understanding to anyone dealing with the condition.